Recipe Index

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Sunday Morning Buckwheat Pancakes...and the best cup of coffee of the week

Good Morning on this Sunday to all of you beautiful people around the world. (Well, and a good evening as the case may be)I love following all of the lives of people that I have met through blogging. As we each post funny little cartoons and cute cat photos on Facebook and Twitter, it makes me smile that we all share the same human nature for chuckles and sighs, pretty photos, and uplifting quotes.What do you do on Sundays? Do you go to church, or mosque, or temple? Do you sleep in late or wake up really early? Do you follow a set routine and stick with the tried and true or have a once a week complete deviation?

I certainly know right now my brother is on the slopes of Aspen (hi Andrew!), and my friend is on slopes too, but in Whistler, Canada. Another wonderful blogger friend is trekking through Myanmar. Robyn and her husband Dave are ambling along the Turkish Black Sea coast in search of fresh local menus to write about in their New York Times articles.

As most of our family knows, if you are at the Kenney's on Sunday morning, in terms of food, it's all about Patrick's waffles. He sleeps later than normal (but for us morning birds that might be 8am). I usually slip out with Chester and take a quiet morning walk to catch the first filmy rays of the sun.Patrick shuffles right into the kitchen...seemingly on auto pilot......for the morning waffle routine.Occasionally, we might have a deviation. It might be crepes, or french toast or...this time, Buckwheat Pancakes.Delicious, hearty, wholesome buckwheat pancakes are one of my favorite breakfast options.

Any berries or fruit, honey or jam, sausages or bacon taste good with these thick but still fluffy pancakes.Houston is at its finest right now. Bright blue skies, crisp cool days (that means NO humidity), and beautiful soft winds that sweep through the house.Reserved for Sunday, is fresh hot strong coffee made in our little silver Italian coffee pot brought back from Florence 7 years ago. Dark Verona coffee is packed and pressed into the little insert cup. As the stove top flame heats up, the pot gurgles and then spits out beautiful strong scents of coffee. It makes just enough for two small cups, so we steam hot milk to round out the heavy notes to create a smooth creamy cup.

So have a wonderful February Sunday morning, whatever breakfast choices you have at your home. Whether you're crunching through snow, or it's summertime where you live, or it is pre-humidity luxury weather here in the deep far south.Hearty and Thick Buckwheat Pancakes...for Sunday morningsINGREDIENTS

METHOD

1 Heat a well-seasoned griddle, cast iron skillet, or stick-free pan on medium heat. The pan or griddle should be ready for the batter as soon as it is mixed.

2 Whisk together the dry ingredients—the flours, sugar, salt, baking soda—in a large bowl. Pour in the melted butter over the dry ingredients and start stirring. Beat the egg with a fork and stir it into half of the buttermilk. Add the buttermilk/egg mixture to the dry ingredients, then slowly add in the rest of the buttermilk as needed to get to the right consistency for your batter. Stir only until everything is combined. Do not overmix. A few lumps are fine.

3 Put a small amount (a half teaspoon) of vegetable oil (or butter) on the pan or griddle and spread it around with a paper towel to coat. Ladle the batter onto the hot surface to the desired size, about 4-5 inches wide. (A 1/4 cup measure will ladle about a 4-inch pancake.) Reduce the heat to medium-low. Allow the pancake to cook for 2-3 minutes on this first side. Watch for bubbles on the surface of the pancake. When air bubbles start to rise to the surface at the center of the pancake, flip the pancake. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, or until nicely browned.

4 Keep your pancakes warm on a rack in the oven set on "warm," or stack them on a plate and cover with a towel as you make more. Spread more oil on the pan as needed between batches of pancakes.

Your pancakes look wonderful. That first picture of your towering stack of pancakes is making my mouth water! Pancakes are the ultimate Sunday food. They are just special enough to reserve for once a week, but just easy enough to make every week. And your buckwheat version sounds fantastic. Yum!

In this house, Sundays are lazy days. After church we hibernate indoors to escape the crowds that congregate in all open spaces. The weather has been lovely, crisp winds and blue skies. I sense hints of spring in the air. Before too long we will be complaining about the heat and hiding inside for different reasons.

Sundays for me are all about being lazy, catching up with friends, going for walks and discovering new places and pockets of the city, and of course working on my site. And perhaps this coming Sunday will be about the pancakes!

Our Sunday routine is always the same...church, then the men all go home and I meet a girlfriend for coffee. When I come home, it's brunch...usually waffles. But today it was pancakes, too! But ours were cinnamon-pear-pecan. Yum. Now, I need to try yours! I don't think I've ever made buckwheat pancakes! They look delish.

Sunday's are usually quiet days. My husband has had a resurgence in his desire for something with red sauce - which he is remembering fondly from Sunday's with his Italian grandparents. So - I have been trying to oblige this bit of nostalgia. Yesterday it was lasagna. In terms of breakfast - I have only recently come to pancakes - I'm not sure why it has taken me so long - because I really do like them!

Oh Sarah... your photos and words are so transporting... I can almost smell the coffee! You have such artistic creativity and soul to capture and share beautiful moments... so exquisitely! Thank you for sharing such beauty!

That sounds like a lovely routine. I get up later than on work days at around 7am. For some that might still be early but I can't bear to waste any of the two free days of the weekend. Adriano and Dario continue sleeping so I have the house to myself for a while and I usually spend it on the computer catching up on emails and visiting blogs. It must be nice to return home from your walk to the smell of cooking pancakes.

Your photography is absolutely dreamy! I want to jump INTO my screen and join you. For pancakes! Our Sundays involve church...and I prefer to be quiet at home after which does not always happen. I'd love to know which part of H-town you are in. We are soon moving from the 'burbs to Tomball/Rosehill area. :) Love your blog to the moon & back!

Oh, yum! I just want to dive into that fluffy shortstack. Though I don't cook with it often, I love buckwheat's nutty, wholesome flavor. Thanks for sharing your lovely, syrupy Sunday morning, Sarah! I'm glad to catch up on all your delicious news.

From another Houstonian, your photos are fabulous! They make me want to make those pancakes for sure. Yes, it's wonderful in our city right now, with this fabulous weather, wish we could have it all the time, don't you? So enjoyed seeing this post.xx's

Today happens to be Sunday (actually, technically, it's now the wee beginning hours of Monday... I should be in bed) and I had a lovely morning visiting a friend over a cup of tea.. we chatted for hours. It was perfect.Then I went beach combing and picture taking. It was a perfect Sunday.

But it would have been even MORE perfect if pancakes were involved.There's always next Sunday....